Jim's Vacation
by Shadow of the Forgotten
Summary: Jim manages to get the place on Heifong to himself for a few weeks and is looking forward to some R&R. Instead he winds up joining a local swim team. So much for relaxing. This story was done as a request.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Outlaw Star or anything affiliated with said show.

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><p>Sunlight peaking through the blinds was what finally woke Jim from his deep slumber. Rolling onto his back, he ran a hand over his eyes and yawned. It was the first time in many months that he'd been able to sleep in and he wasn't quite ready to meet the day just yet. Stifling another yawn, he slowly opened his eyes, blinking several times as the bright light assaulted them.<p>

He lay there like that for several minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet of the flat, and contemplated burrowing back into the blankets and staying there for a couple more hours. It's not like there was anything pressing he needed to get done, the XGP was already fixed up and ready for departure and the business was closed for the next few weeks.

Smiling as he remembered the previous day's conversation with Melfina, Jim couldn't believe his luck. Apparently Mel had entered some getaway contest at a local store and, surprisingly enough, she'd won the grand prize, a trip for two on a new luxury space liner that was set to depart…right about now actually.

She'd been so excited when she came back with the tickets and had all but demanded Gene go with her. The red-headed captain had been reluctant at first, why, Jim had no idea, but in the end Mel had gotten her way and the two left later that evening for two whole weeks in paradise. He'd never seen Mel so excited about anything before, and truly hoped they both had a wonderful time.

Since Suzuka and Aisha were gone as well, Aisha had some mandatory meeting with her clan and Suzuka mentioned something about a new contract, Jim had the whole place to himself for the foreseeable future. An interesting turn of events to be sure, but not an unwelcome one.

Unfortunately, Gene had demanded he not take any jobs while he was away and declared the business closed until he returned, which left Jim with a lot of free time on his hands. Not that Jim had anything against having time off, but several weeks with nothing to do…well, perhaps he could sneak in one or two small jobs to pass the time.

Glancing over at the clock, Jim realized he must have dozed off at some point since it was now well after noon. Sitting up, he ran a hand through his messy brown hair and pushed the plain blue comforter to his feet. He stood up and made his way to the bathroom, stepping around the pile of clothes he'd dropped on the floor last night before going to bed.

Fifteen minutes later he walked out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of tan cargo pants and a dark red shirt. Tossing the towel he'd been using to dry his hair in the hamper, he grabbed the dirty clothes off the floor and threw them in as well. He thought about making his bed, but decided against it as he grabbed the small computer off the desk and pulled on the blue jacket that was sitting on the back of his chair.

After making sure he had his wallet, Jim headed out of his room and into the living room. It was a little strange not having anyone around, the place looked so empty, and suddenly the thought of being there wasn't so appealing anymore. So without bothering to see what tasty meals Mel had left for him in the fridge, Jim headed out the front door.

The streets were lively, people bustling about running errands and whatnot, and Jim was grateful they'd chosen a relatively populated area of Heifong to set up shop. Back on Sentinel III their business was located on a street filled mostly with warehouses, not too far from the major streets, but far enough away that there wasn't much traffic. The quiet was nice and all, but right now he wanted to be surrounded by people.

Turning to the left, he began walking down the street towards a small little coffee shop he'd found a few days ago. It was located right outside one of Heifong's premier shopping malls, Melfina loved to shop there when she had the chance, and had some of the best coffee he'd ever tasted. Also, their blueberry scones were amazing.

Jim waved at an elderly woman selling scarves at one of the vendor stands on the side of the street. She had on a light green dress that was several sized too big, but oddly enough seemed to look rather good on her, and was wearing a straw hat that hid most of her face. "Hey Elaina, how are you today?" He asked politely.

"Oh I'm doing wonderful Jim, thank you for asking." Elaina replied with a smile. "And what about you? Out for a stroll are we?"

Nodding, Jim smiled. "Something like that."

"Very good dear. Well if you're ever in the market for a scarf you know where to come." She said, waving one of her pieces in the air.

"Absolutely, I'd never dream of shopping anywhere else." Placing a few coins on her stand, a habit he'd gotten into the first time they met, Jim tipped his head before continuing on his way. "I'll see you later Elaina."

"Bye-bye dear!"

Waving his hand, Jim crossed the street with the small crowd that had gathered on the corner when the light changed. From there it was only another couple of blocks to his destination, but it took him nearly fifteen minutes to make the short trek since he stopped to help a man with his groceries, and then again to play with a small wandering kitten.

Eying the one-story shop nestled between an antique dealer and a jewelry store, Jim stepped between two of the three bistro tables set up outside and headed in. Pushing open the door, the scent of freshly brewed coffee and hot muffins assaulted his nose and he breathed in deeply, a smile forming on his face at the delicious smells. That was another thing he liked about this little shop, they baked all of their goods fresh every morning instead of having them delivered from outside companies like a lot of the places in Heifong did.

"Hey Jack, I'll have a small coffee and a blueberry scone please." Jim said to the young black haired man behind the counter. He had a dark green shirt and black pants on, covered by a brown apron that had Fei Sei Coffee printed in bold letters across the front.

"Yo, Jim. Good to see you buddy." Jack replied with a smile as he grabbed a cup off the counter and filled it from a nearby pot. Putting on the lid, he set it down in front of Jim before walking over to the pastry racks and grabbing a scone from the second shelf. "Anything else I can get for you?" He asked as he put the scone into a bag and set it next to the coffee.

Jim shook his head as he grabbed his wallet from his pocket and pulled out some money. "Nope, that's it for today." He said, handing over some bills without waiting for the total. He'd ordered the same thing several times before and already knew the cost.

Grabbing his stuff off the counter, Jim took a sip of his drink, sighing happily when the rich flavor hit his tongue. They really did have good coffee, much better than the crap Gene had Mel buy. "And keep the change."

"Thanks." Jack said, tossing the coins into the tip jar on the counter. "Come back soon."

Jim raised his coffee and grinned. "Oh you know I will." Turning around, he headed to the door. It was such a nice day outside he decided to sit at one of the tables and enjoy the fresh air while he ate his scone. Pushing the door open with his shoulder since his hands were currently occupied, he stepped out into the sun…and ran right into someone.

Stumbling backwards, Jim looked up and winced at the large coffee stain on the light blue shirt in front of him. "Oh man, I'm so sorry." He apologized, finally bringing his eyes up to look into the face of the person, woman actually, he'd run into. She appeared to be around nineteen or twenty, had short red hair and green eyes, and was still smiling, despite the fact that his coffee had just collided with her shirt. Scratching the back of his head nervously, Jim dropped his eyes towards the ground and found himself staring at jean covered legs surrounded by several large shopping bags.

"Don't worry about it." The woman said as she set her bags down. "I'll wash it when I get home. No harm done." Grabbing the bottom of the shirt, she lifted it up over her head, rolled it into a ball, and stuffed it inside one of the bags.

When she started removing her shirt, Jim's eyes widened and he quickly yanked his jacket from his body, fully intending to throw it over her unclothed form. Instead he found himself staring at the top part of what appeared to be a black swimsuit that had a swim team logo and white writing across the top. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jim laid the jacket over his arm and released the death grip he had on his scone. Though he doubted there was much left of it at this point, not with the way he'd been squeezing it moments before.

Seeing the red adorning the young boy's face, the woman's smile widened. "You are just too cute." She said, rubbing the top of Jim's head and messing up his unruly locks even more. The blush darkened and she giggled. "And quite easy to embarrass as well it seems." Holding out her hand, she crouched down a little so she was eye level with the boy and grinned. "I'm Lisa by the way."

"Jim." Jim replied, slowly taking Lisa's offered hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Lisa nodded. "Nice to meet you too Jim." Reaching for her bags, she paused. "You know, I was just thinking that maybe it was time for a break. How would you like to sit down and have some coffee with me?" She asked, tipping her head towards the nearest table. Jim appeared to be hesitating so she added. "It'll be my treat."

"But I'm the one who spilled my drink on you; I should have to buy you one." Jim blurted without thinking.

Smirking as she got her way, Lisa nodded her head. "Deal. I'll take an espresso if you don't mind." Setting the bags down next to the middle table, she sat down in one of the chairs and crossed her legs. When Jim simply stood there, she made a 'shooing' motion with her hand. "Well, go on then."

Jim opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it when nothing came out. Shaking his head, he headed back inside Fei Sei's in a sort of daze. Normally he wouldn't have coffee with random strangers off the street, but seeing as he had unwittingly agreed to it, there wasn't much he could do about the situation now. Besides, he did kind of owe her for ruining her shirt.

Grabbing another small coffee and an espresso for Lisa, Jim walked back outside and joined the woman at the table. "Here you go." He said, placing the cup down on the table and taking a sip of his drink.

"Thanks." Lisa said, raising the cup to her lips.

The two sat there in silence for several minutes and Jim began glancing around and nervously picking at his pant leg. He wasn't really used to just sitting around without conversation, not with the crew he hung out with. Gene and Aisha never seem to shut up, Mel loves to ask questions, and Suzuka, surprisingly enough, can also be quite talkative when she's in the mood.

Unfortunately, he had no idea what to talk about. Usually everyone else talked while he listened and nodded his head, responding when necessary. Setting his now empty cup down on the table, he glanced over at Lisa and for the first time really focused on the writing on her swimsuit. "So, you're a swim instructor then?" He asked, pointing at the top of her suit.

"Yes I am." Lisa said as she put her cup down as well. "I help coach a local team over at the Late Summer Moons Resort and Recreation Center. You know, the huge complex two streets over."

"Oh, you mean that new place they just put up a few months back?" Jim asked curiously. "I've heard they have really nice facilities there, but I've never been."

Lisa nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. Personally I think the name's a little long, writing it out is a real pain, but it has top of the line equipment and an Olympic sized pool so I can't really complain." Tipping her cup from side to side with her finger, she continued. "So, do you swim?"

"I don't much anymore, but I used to back on Sentinel III." Jim replied. "Nothing serious, but a few of us would get together a couple of times a week and practice. I was actually pretty good at it if I do say so myself."

"I see. Well, how would you like to pick it back up again?"

Jim raised an eyebrow at the question. "What do you mean?"

Raising the cup to her lips, Lisa finished her drink before looking Jim square in the eyes. "I've got a proposition for you. How would you like to join my team? It would be a temporary thing, only for about a week…unless you decide you want to stay that is." Jim opened his mouth and she continued without letting him speak. "Just hear me out first. We've got a small meet coming up, nothing major, it's just between us and the pretentious team from Heifong's 3rd District, and our freestyle swimmer is stuck on bed rest for the next month. Normally we'd use a backup, but since the twins went on vacation we're short on those as well. So what do you say, will you come swim with us? We could really use the help."

"…um, I don't know. This is a little sudden." Jim said slowly.

Since Jim looked ready to bolt, Lisa decided to try using a different approach to get him to agree. "That's too bad; I was going to give you a free year long membership to the resort if you'd accepted. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to find someone else who'll be willing to help me out of this desperate situation."

"A free year long membership?" Jim echoed. "But those things cost a fortune."

"True, but as an instructor to the swim team I'm given several memberships each year. I guess you could call it a perk of the position." Lisa said with a smile. "But seeing as you're not interested, I should probably be on my way. It's been lovely talking to you Jim. Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

As Lisa stood up and began gathering her bags, Jim stared at the cup in front of him as he flitted back and forth between accepting her proposal, or leaving things the way they were. Normally he wouldn't hesitate, but a free membership to the nicest resort on all of Heifong was very appealing. While it was true that he'd never been there before, he had done some research and found that once a month they had a 'free day' where anyone could come use the facilities, but the rest of the time it was strictly for either the guests staying in the attached rooms, or people willing to shell out some serious cash for a membership.

By the time he'd come out of his thoughts, Lisa was already gone. "Well, I guess that finalizes things." He mumbled under his breath. Shaking his head, he stood up and grabbed his empty cup from the table when a business card caught his eye. Picking it up he saw the logo for the Late Summer Moons Resort printed across the front with Lisa's name and number beneath it. When he flipped it over there was more writing scrawled across the back in blue ink.

_Hey Jim, just in case you change your mind here's my card. Call me anytime. Lisa_

Smiling, Jim tucked the card into his pocket. He still wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to join, but at least now he had a way to contact her when he made up his mind. Tossing the cup in the trash, he pulled his jacket on and headed towards the mall that was located about a block away. He didn't particularly feel like shopping, but figured he may as well check out the latest hardware at some of the electronic shops.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Outlaw Star or anything affiliated with said show.

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><p>The next morning Jim blearily stumbled out of bed, silently cursing the new game he'd ended up buying the day before. Sure the game had looked interesting, but if he'd known how addicting the thing was he never would've gotten it. He'd been up until nearly six o-clock in the morning trying to finish all the little side quests and beat the game. Damn RPG's.<p>

Rubbing a hand over his eyes, he yawned and thought about curling back under his covers for a few more hours when a small card poking off the edge of his bedside table made him pause. Glancing at the clock and seeing that it was well after two in the afternoon, Jim pushed himself out of bed and grabbed his phone from under a pile of parts magazines.

He hit the numbers listed on the card and then waited patiently for a voice on the other end to pick up. What he got was the answering machine. "Hey Lisa, this is Jim. I ran into you yesterday at Fei Sei's. Anyway, I've been thinking about your offer and I'd like to take you up on it…if it's still available that is. Call me back a-."

Suddenly there was a very chipper voice on the other line. "Jim buddy, so glad you called." Lisa's voice said. "And yes the offer is still good. In fact, I'll be here for the next several hours if you'd like to come have a tour of the place. There's also some paperwork that needs to be filled out, boring though it may be it still has to be done, and I'll need to give you the rules handbook and our practice schedule."

Eyeing his state of undress, he'd fallen into bed in nothing but his boxers, Jim sat up and began searching for some clothes. "Uh, sure. I can be there in a half hour." He said, grinning triumphantly when he found a clean dark blue shirt under one of the blankets he'd kicked off in his sleep.

"I'll meet you in the front lobby then. See you soon!"

Tossing the phone back on the table, Jim pulled a pair of grey cargo pants out of his drawer and headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. Ten minutes later he was out the door, a peanut butter sandwich in one hand and his jacket in the other.

The rec center was only about a mile away, and Jim made it there in just under fifteen minutes since he'd chosen to take several back alleys instead of dealing with the busy afternoon streets. Staring up at the huge construct, it had at least four different buildings all connected together by the main lobby area and each one was at least five stories high, Jim couldn't help but be in awe. The entire place was made of intricately connected pieces of metal and glass and looked more like something you'd find in an art museum than on a main street.

Walking down the stone path that lead to the front doors, Jim spotted at least three different fountains in the open courtyard he was walking through and what appeared to be an outdoor tanning salon…not that he'd ever been to one, but he'd seen pictures. By the time he'd reached the door, he was beginning to think that maybe he'd made a big mistake. A fancy place like this had to be filled with snobs which meant he was likely to find himself on a team filled with spoiled rich kids. Suddenly the door was pulled open and he found himself looking up into Lisa's smiling face.

"Jim, you're early. Good." Lisa said as she grabbed his hand and began pulling him inside. "Welcome to the Late Summer Moons Resort and Recreation Center. They've got everything you need for…well, just about everything. I'm not joking either, there's a tennis court, a climbing wall, a bike trail, and even a place to hanglide here."

As Lisa rambled on about all the different amenities, it was obvious that she was an employee there, Jim looked around the lavishly decorated lobby area. There were expensive leather couches and chairs spread out in several areas, fancy pictures hanging everywhere, and even a waterfall on one of the walls. Then he noticed something peculiar about some of the guests. "Hey, what's up with all the suits?" Jim asked curiously. "I thought this was supposed to be a resort, not an office building."

"Oh those are probably just Mr. Luo's bodyguards." Lisa replied offhandedly. "He stops in every month or so to see how the place is doing and to sit in on employee meetings."

Jim paled slightly at the name. "…Fred Luo?"

"Of course. Didn't you know he owned this place?"

Ignoring the question when he caught sight of a familiar head of black hair, Jim immediately ducked behind the nearest thing he could find that would hide him…which just so happened to be Lisa. "Crap, how did I not know that?" He muttered to himself as he continued to use the woman in front of him as cover.

Lisa raised an eyebrow before shaking her head at Jim's behavior. "I take it you know the man then?" She asked, chuckling when she felt him nod into her back. "Well that explains the reaction then. I've personally never met the guy, but I hear he's quite…eccentric."

"That's the understatement of the century." Jim said with a snort. "The man's certifiable."

"Good to know." Watching as the men in suits disappeared with the black haired man between them, Lisa turned her head and glanced over her shoulder. "You can come out now; the big scary man is gone." She said with a smirk.

Stepping back, Jim ran a hand through his hair and pretended his cheeks hadn't turned a bright shade of red. "Ehem, yes, well I believe you mentioned something about paperwork."

"You're absolutely right. Let's go get the boring stuff done so I can show you the real treasure of this place…the pool!" Smiling, Lisa took Jim's hand once more and led him towards a door on the left side of the front desk.

Apparently Fred had spared no expense when building the place because even the doors were fancy. They were metal with gold piping running along the edges, had flower images inlaid into the material, and slid open automatically when they neared them. Jim wanted to get a better look at some of the designs, they were quite interesting flowers, probably from exotic worlds, but a sharp tug on his wrist had him stumbling after Lisa before he had a chance.

Immediately after walking through the doors, Lisa turned right and headed down one of the three hallways the door led to, entering the second door on the left. She pulled out a chair in front of the desk that sat near the far wall and motioned for Jim to take a seat before sitting down behind her desk. Sliding her chair forward, she opened the top drawer and pulled out a packet and several files. "Okay, here we have the rulebook, read that in your free time to familiarize yourself with what the judges are looking for, and this is our practice schedule." She said, pushing a small booklet and spreadsheet across the desk towards Jim.

Grabbing the schedule off the desk, Jim looked it over quickly. "So you guys run drills two times a day during the week for two hours, and one four hour session on Saturdays?" He asked, continuing when she nodded. "That must be exhausting with all the traveling back and forth."

"Actually, we stay at the resort during tournament weeks. It makes things easier for everyone. During the off weeks, our training times are cut in half so the students have time for school and other activities." Lisa replied. Digging through one of the files, she pulled out several forms and handed them over as well. "These are the legal forms you have to sign in order to swim here. They all say basically the same thing; you won't hold the resort liable if anything happens to you, blah, blah, blah."

Nodding, Jim glanced through the pages and set them down next to the schedule. "So these are for the resort, what do I need to sign for the team?"

"Ah, yes. That would be these." Sliding three more papers over, she continued. "The top one is all about our policies; no hitting, swearing, fighting, cheating, etc. The second one is for your personal information; emergency contact, allergies, etc. And the last one is the agreement to join the swim team." Holding up a pen, Lisa smiled. "Go ahead and read through them and I'll be back in a few minutes to see how things are going." Standing up, she looked Jim up and down and then gave a quick nod before turning to leave the room.

Jim stared at the sheets of paper in front of him and began the arduous task of reading through everything. Minutes ticked by and one page was set down and another picked up. By the time Lisa came back in, Jim had managed to complete all but the last piece of paper, and he was nearly done with that as well.

"Good, I see you're almost finished there." Lisa said as she placed a small paper bag on the desk and sat back down.

"Yep, just two more things to fill out and…done." Jim replied as he set the pen down, stacked the papers together and held them up in the air.

"Congrats." Lisa said as she gathered up the papers and moved to put them in a file cabinet behind her desk. "You're now officially a member of the Late Summer Moon's swim team." Turning back around, she held out two small cards. "Here's your membership card, it's for a whole year as promised, and this is your room key."

"Room key?" Jim questioned, taking the cards and shoving them in his pocket.

Lisa nodded. "Yes. As I said earlier all team members stay at the resort during tournaments, and we just started one a few days ago."

"Wait a minute, I thought you said I was only needed for a small match between one other team. You never mentioned a tournament." Jim said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Would you relax." Lisa said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at his childishness. "I told you the truth; we only _need_ you for our match against the Heifong Country Club's team. However, our match against them is part of a much larger tournament that takes place over the next three weeks. If you decide to stick around we could definitely use your help, but you don't have to."

"…oh, I see." Rubbing the back of his head, Jim looked down embarrassedly.

Sighing, Lisa walked around her desk and leaned down in front of Jim. "Look, if you don't want to stay here, it's no big deal. We just find it nice to have our stuff so close during our busy training weeks." Pausing, she smiled. "And did I mention that all the amenities are free…including room service and the fabulous five-star restaurant on the roof."

At the mention of free food, Jim looked up. "What about cleaning and laundry?" He asked curiously.

"Taken care of as well."

After hearing all that, it didn't take Jim long to make a decision. "So when can I move in?"

Lisa glanced at the clock on the wall before answering. "Since the afternoon drills are at 6pm you should have plenty of time to get back to your place, grab your stuff, get back here, and get settled in before meeting everyone at the pool."

Seeing as it was well after 3pm, Jim stood up and tipped his head in farewell. "Then I guess I'll be going now."

"Wait." Lisa called out, grabbing the paper bag off her desk. "You should probably…oh, never mind. I'll put your suit in your room for when you get back, and you can see the pool later. Right now you should probably just focus on getting your things."

"Alright." Jim said as he turned back to the door.

As the door was pulled open, Lisa said one final thing. "Don't forget, practice is at 6pm and anyone late has to swim laps!"

"Got it." Waving over his shoulder, Jim headed back out the way they'd come in. Making his way back to the front doors, he stepped out into the fresh air and stretched with a smile. He'd had no intention of joining a swim team, but it was a great way to pass the time while the rest of the crew was off doing their own things. And the fact that he got a yearlong membership to the resort Gene had been dying to go to since it was opened, and a free stay in the place as well…that just made things all the better.

He made the trip back to his place in a kind of daze, his thoughts focused on what he wanted to bring, and what kind of foods they'd have available for him to try at the fancy restaurant. Don't get him wrong, Mel was a great cook, now anyway, but the idea of getting to eat expensive dishes, especially one's he'd normally never even get to look at, well, let's just say he was already working up quite an appetite.

Throwing open the door to the flat, Jim raced inside and began tossing things inside a small red bag he kept under his bed. It wouldn't hold much, just a few days worth of clothing and his personal hygiene stuff, but it wasn't like he was going to be gone for all that long, and he was close by if he really needed something.

Glancing around his room, he decided to at least make his bed before leaving and set his bag down to get to work. Pulling up the comforter, he tucked it under the mattress and straightened his pillow. Brushing off his hands, Jim was about to grab his bag when he caught sight of the mess of clothes spread across the floor. He was tempted to leave them there and deal with it later, but after looking at the clock and seeing that he still had a little time, figured he may as well get it over with.

o o o o o

A half hour later Jim hung up the last of his shirts and nodded his head at what he'd accomplished. Not a single thing was out of place, all his clothes had been ironed, folded and put away, and he'd even done a quick vacuuming job. Satisfied, he grabbed his bag and threw the strap over his shoulder on his way to the door. It was now nearly five and he still needed to get settled into his temporary room.

After locking up Jim made his way back towards the resort, absently humming a tune he'd heard on some random commercial a few days ago. This time he made it there in under ten minutes, and after walking through the glass doors, he looked around the place with a smile. Which immediately turned to a frown when he realized that although he did have a room key…he had no clue as to which room it belonged to. Sighing, he pulled the card out of his pocket and began heading to the counter to ask the lady behind the desk for help.

He made it five and a half steps when a thought occurred to him and he quickly turned the card over. Sure enough, on the back was the number D-308 written in gold. Now that that dilemma had been dealt with, all he had to do was figure out what the D stood for. Starting towards the desk again, he caught sight of a directory on the wall a few feet away and turned towards it instead.

He scanned through the different listings, the top half was reserved for all the recreational places and such, until he finally found what he was searching for. Apparently the letters next to the room numbers signified which building the room was in. According to the map, D building was on the opposite side of his current location. Turning around, he saw an elevator on the other wall labeled D and walked over to it.

While waiting for the doors to open, Jim checked the lobby clock and was pleased to see he still had a little less than an hour before practice started for the evening. While checking out the directory, he'd found out that the pool was located a few doors down from where Lisa's office was so he knew where he was going. All he needed to do now was find his room, put his stuff away, grab his suit, and head down to meet the team.

Ten minutes and several wrong turns later, someone had decided to hit every button on the elevator and the signs for the room numbers were really confusing, Jim came to a stop outside room D-308. Slipping the card key into the slot, he pushed open the door and his eyes widened at the sight before him. Sure he expected the room to be nice, but this went so far beyond nice it wasn't even in the same galaxy. It was almost like he'd stepped into a room in a royal palace or something.

The room itself was huge, nearly half the size of their flat, and had plush, beige carpeting that looked soft enough to sleep on. There was a king size bed against the left wall with gold and red sheets and five fluffy pillows adorning it. Against the other wall there was a desk with two chairs and a small lamp, a leather couch with a glass coffee table sitting in front of it, and a small kitchenette. Jim was in heaven and he hadn't even looked in the bathroom yet.

Speaking of which, peaking behind the door he spotted a glimpse of a rather large looking tub and stepped inside to get a better look. The bathroom was even nicer than the rest of the room. It had an enormous Jacuzzi tub in the center, with a waterfall shower on the right side of the room and a double sink on the left. The bathroom was larger than his entire room!

Jim pumped his fist in the air and cheered before dropping his bag just outside the bathroom so he could run to the bed. A small paper bag sitting on the foot of the bed stopped him moments before he leapt into the air. Cocking his head curiously, he finally recognized it as the one Lisa had said held his swimsuit and he sat down and pulled it into his lap. "I wonder what color it is." He thought out loud. "It better not be pink."

Reaching inside the bag, he grabbed hold of the article of clothing and pulled it out to get a good look at what he'd be wearing in just a little while. Holding it up, Jim froze as he stared at the small piece of black material in his hand with a look of utter horror on his face. In fact, he was certain he'd have run from the room screaming if he hadn't already signed all the paperwork and moved into the really nice room he was given for the duration of the tournament. Never had he imagined the swimsuit would be a speedo. I mean sure, he'd seen Olympic swimmers wear them, but a league for teens…no.

He sat that way for some time, just staring at the suit in his hands, when he caught sight of the time out of the corner of his eye. Turning to really look at the clock next to the bed, he frowned. More time had passed than he'd thought and if he didn't hurry up he'd end up being late. Then he'd be forced to do laps, which was not something he was looking forward to. Moving his eyes back to the offending piece of cloth, Jim sighed before resigning himself to his fate.

Five minutes later he walked out of his room, a large towel wrapped firmly around his waist, and headed to the elevator that would take him to the pool. Shaking his head, he couldn't help but compare himself to the woman in the ancient Earth song about the polka dotted bikini. How he knew that song…well, everyone has their own little obsessions and his happens to be music.

Hitting the button to call the elevator to his floor, Jim doubled checked his towel to make sure it was securely tied, wouldn't do to have it fall off and show everyone his lack of attire. Looking up when the doors opened, he stepped inside the empty elevator and pressed the button for the first floor before leaning back against the railing as the doors slid shut and the metal contraption began its trek down.

By the time the elevator reached its stop, Jim was beginning to feel a little nervous. Sure he knew what he'd signed up for, and he was in no way shy, but it had finally sunk in that soon he'd have to remove the towel in front of a room full of strangers. Not a very appealing thought to say the least.

He found himself frozen, one foot raised slightly off the floor, and was tempted to turn around and head back to his room. As the doors began to close, Jim shook his head and jumped off the elevator before he could follow through with his thought of running away. He'd never gone back on his word before and he wasn't about to start now.

Walking down the hallway, the elevator he'd taken was on the opposite side of the building from the front desk, Jim followed the signs that pointed to the pool and soon found himself standing right outside large metal doors that smelled of chlorine. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his resolve and pulled the door open so he could step inside.

The first thing he noticed was that there were actually two pools, a smaller one that had two teenagers and several older couples swimming around, and the Olympic sized one Lisa had mentioned. Those took up most of the right side of the large room and what space there was left was lined with lounge chairs, lockers, and a small beverage bar. On the other side were three hot tubs and several doors that led to what he assumed were saunas.

After his quick perusal of the room, Jim made his way to the far side where a group of five kids, all around his age, were swimming laps. Lisa was standing next to the pool, her hair once again pulled back and wearing the same suit he'd seen her in the first time they'd met. Next to her were two other women, a redheaded one who was wearing a light blue bikini and waving her arms around to emphasize whatever it was she was saying, and a brunette with a lavender bikini who nodded her head every few seconds.

Turning his focus back to the kids in the pool, he counted two girls and three boys…four if he counted himself. And sure enough, all the guys were wearing the exact same thing he currently had on underneath his towel. Whining to himself about how unfair it was that the girls got to wear one pieces and he was stuck with a small scrap of fabric, Jim scratched the back of his head nervously when he came to a stop a few feet away from Lisa.

Catching sight of her newest recruit out of the corner of her eye, Lisa turned to face him with a bright smile on her face. "Jim." She said happily. "I see you've made it." Grabbing him by the hand she pulled him to stand in front of the two women she'd just been chatting with. "Amy, Sarah, I'd like you to meet Jim. He's agreed to join us for our match against the Dragons…he's going to be Kyle's replacement."

"Well isn't he a darling." The redhead said as she held out her hand. "I'm Amy, it's nice to meet you."

Jim raised his hand to shake it, but the other woman snatched it out of the air before he could. "And I'm Sarah." The brunette said as she pulled him into a hug. Squeezing him tightly against her chest, Sarah grudgingly released him when Lisa cleared her throat.

Pulling the bright red boy back towards her, Lisa rolled her eyes at the two women who were still cooing over how adorable Jim was. "Okay, enough you two. Why don't you go keep track of the rest of the swimmers times." Giving them a shooing motion with her hand when it looked like they might argue, she turned to face Jim after they walked away. "Sorry about that, they can be a bit…overzealous when they meet new members."

"N-no problem." Jim stuttered slightly, his cheeks still burning red and his eyes glued to the ground as he stood there thoroughly embarrassed.

Chuckling, Lisa placed a hand on his shoulder and led him to one of the chairs that sat next to the pool. "Well now that you've met the other instructors, how about you put down your things and I'll introduce you to your fellow teammates."

With a nod, Jim slipped off his flip-flops under the chair and reached for the towel around his waist. He slowly undid the knot he'd tied on the side and with a deep breath, removed the towel and dropped in on the chair. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but nothing happened. There were no comments, laughs, nothing.

"Hurry up over there or you'll have to swim laps!" Lisa's voice called out. At some point she'd made her way over to the pool and now everyone appeared to be waiting on him. With as much dignity as he could muster, wearing a speedo was so embarrassing, Jim walked over and stopped at the side of the pool to stand next to Lisa.

"Everyone, this is Jim Hawking. He's going to be swimming with us for the next week or so." Lisa told the group around her. Then starting on the left she began introductions. "The blonde guy at the end is Greg, and next to him are the redheads Trey and Tony, they're brothers in case you couldn't tell. The brunette there is Julia and the little blonde girl next to her is Sasha."

"Hi." Jim said meekly.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm sure we'll be the best of friends." Julia said sweetly and Jim blushed when Trey and Tony snickered behind their hands.

"Alright, since you've all met it's time to get back to work." Lisa cut in before they could start joking around. "I want all of you to do fifteen laps each of backstroke, front crawl, and the butterfly." When the kids looked over at Amy and Sarah to see if they had anything to say, Lisa growled. "Move it!" Looking over at Jim, she raised an eyebrow when she saw that he was still standing there. "Well?"

"Um, yes?" Jim asked hesitantly.

Rolling her eyes, Lisa jerked her thumb at the pool. "You're a part of the team as well so get your butt in the water and start swimming."

Jim was in the pool in seconds, arms and legs working furiously as he tried to catch up with the rest of the team.

o o o o o

Practice seemed to fly by and before he knew it, Lisa was calling them all back to the edge of the pool. Resting his arms on the side, he took several deep breaths and tried to slow his breathing. It had been some time since he'd last been in the water and Lisa turned out to be quite the slave driver. He was certain that every muscle in his body was going to ache tonight.

"Good job today guys." Lisa said as she crouched down closer to eye level. "Some of you managed to cut off a few seconds in your laps, and others…well you'll be getting some extra training later this week."

"So long as Amy's the one putting me through my laps I've got no problem with it." Trey said cheekily, and Tony laughed at his brother's comment.

"I'd much rather work with Sarah, she's so much nicer." Greg added with a grin.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you." Sarah cooed, reaching down and pinching the boy's cheek.

"You know if you'd stop letting them goof off all the time then they wouldn't need the extra training in the first place." Lisa muttered annoyed, but her fellow instructors were too busy chatting with the team about that night's dinner menu to hear her. Shaking her head, she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

Sarah and Amy never really did any actual work for the team, choosing instead to lie around and chat, but they always managed to make the mood lighter and keep the kids on track when it was needed so Lisa was willing to overlook their laziness…for the most part anyway.

"Alright everyone, practice is dismissed." Lisa said, smiling at the cheers her team let out as they all jumped out of the pool and raced to the lockers to grab their gear. Returning Sasha's wave, she called out. "I'll see you all tomorrow!" Her fellow instructors left as well and now that it was relatively quiet, there were still a few people relaxing in one of the hot tubs, but the pools were basically empty, Lisa took a deep breath and climbed into the pool to swim a few laps herself.

"Lisa?" Jim questioned, startling her slightly.

Blinking, she looked over and was surprised to find him in the water next to her. "Oh, Jim. I thought you went with the others."

"Actually, I thought I'd go soak in the hot tub for awhile and relax my muscles. What about you, aren't you hungry?"

"Not really, I ate a pretty big lunch. Besides, there's something very calming about being in the water, and after dealing with you guys for several hours, I need a break." Lisa replied with a smile to let him know she was only half serious.

Jim returned the smile before pulling himself out of the pool. "I see, well I'll leave you in peace then." Grabbing his towel off the chair and slipping on his flops, he paused. "I don't think I ever said this, but thanks for asking me to join. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed this."

"We would've had to forfeit if you hadn't decided to swim with us so I really should be thanking you. I mean could you imagine what I'd have to listen to if we weren't able to take on the _almighty_ Dragons, I'd never hear the end of it." Lisa finished with a shake of her head. Jim chuckled and she continued. "You'd best be going though if you want to relax your muscles properly."

"Yeah. I guess I'll see you later then."

"Bright and early in the morning." Lisa chirped. "Practice starts at seven!" Grinning at his groan, she sank deeper into the water and pushed away from the wall to begin her first lap.

Rubbing the towel through his hair so it wouldn't fall in his face so much, Jim shook his head as he made his way over to one of the empty hot tubs. "Why does it have to be so early?" He groaned to himself. "Sure I'm a morning person, but even I like to sleep in a little." Dropping his towel a few feet from the edge, he stepped into the steamy water and sighed in content. "So long as I get to enjoy this whenever I want though, who cares."

He soaked for a little more than ten minutes before deciding it was probably time to head back to his room and catch some sleep…right after ordering some delicious room service that is. With that goal in mind, Jim climbed out of the hot tub, wrapped his towel back around his waist, slid back on his flip-flops and began the short trek up to the third floor where a very comfy bed with silky sheets awaited him.

Being as it was nearing nine at night, there weren't many people around so Jim had the elevator to himself. Whistling along with the music they played over the speakers, he stepped out into the hallway as soon as the doors opened on his floor. And practically ran right into Greg.

"Yo Jim, what's up?" Greg asked, and Jim was surprised to see him dressed in black slacks and a dark blue button up dress shirt.

"Just heading back to my room." Jim replied. "What about you, is there a party or something I don't know about?"

Laughing, Greg gave him a friendly punch on the arm. "You're pretty funny, but seriously, are you joining us for dinner or what?"

Jim shook his head. "Actually I'm just going to head back to my room and order in. I'm really tired tonight."

"That's not a surprise. Lisa may be one of the best instructors on Heifong, but her training regimen is crazy. Don't worry though, you get used to it after a few days…either that or you quit." Grinning, Greg glanced at his watch. "Well maybe you can join us next time. I'll see you later buddy." Tipping his head slightly, he headed off down the left hallway.

Turning in the opposite direction, Jim walked down the hall until he reached his room. Slipping inside, he dropped his stuff in a pile by the door and headed straight for the bathroom for a much needed shower. He probably could've used the showers at the pool, but this one had been calling to him since he'd seen it and he just had to try it out.

Fifteen minutes later he stepped out of the bathroom dressed in an overly large white t-shirt and blue flannel pajama bottoms, and collapsed onto the bed. He thought about calling out for some food, but he was far too comfortable to even move his arm. Besides, his stomach wasn't screaming at him so he figured there really wasn't any reason to make the extra effort.

Pulling the pillow closest to him under his head, Jim burrowed into the soft material and closed his eyes. He was sound asleep in minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Outlaw Star or anything affiliated with said show.

* * *

><p>The next few days went by quickly, what with all the practices and hanging out with the rest of the team, and before Jim knew it, it was already Saturday morning.<p>

It turned out that Greg, Trey and Tony all had rooms a few doors down from him and they'd taken to walking to and from practices together in the morning. Since the Crain brothers headed home for lunch to spend time with their family and Greg went to his mother's bakery for the afternoon shift, they always headed straight to the pool when they arrived so Jim would make the evening trip by himself.

One time he'd wound up in the elevator with Julia and found out that her parents were diplomats out on some business trip. Her family was very wealthy and she had the option of training at the exclusive Heifong Country Club, but she'd turned it down to train with her cousin, who as it turned out just so happened to be their instructor Sarah. She also informed him that the girls were all located on the fourth floor with the instructors, in case he ever needed to find Lisa or the others.

He hadn't really learned anything about Sasha, she was very quiet and only seemed to talk with Julia and Lisa, but he did know, courtesy of Trey, that she was an orphan, but had recently been adopted by a nice elderly couple that lived in the rural district of Heifong.

As for Sarah and Amy, well he'd been drug off to eat by them several times and been forced to sit between them while they talked about their favorite foods, shows, exotic places, and anything else they happened to ramble on about. It's not that Jim didn't like them, he did, they were just a little too…well, to be honest, they kind of reminded him a little of Aisha, and he was more than grateful every time he managed to sneak away from them.

He'd run into Lisa a few times, but when she wasn't running the team she had a side job helping out the resort doing whatever odd jobs they sent her way so she was usually too busy to do anything with the team. She did go out to dinner with them one night, but was called away when one of the night lifeguards called in sick.

Sitting up with a yawn, Jim glanced over at the clock and quickly did a double take. "Holy crap, I'm late!" He cried, jumping out of bed and throwing on his suit as fast as he could. Dashing out of the room, he pulled the towel around his waist as he raced to the elevator at the end of the hall. He stopped after three feet and turned towards the stairs instead.

Usually he didn't take them since he was pretty tired after practice, but they'd get him to the pool a lot faster. Pushing open the door, he took the stairs two at a time and in less than two minutes he was standing outside the doors to the pool area.

Leaning over, he took several gasping breaths and tried to catch his breath before going inside. As soon as he could breathe again Jim stepped through the door and made his way over to the pool with an apology on his lips. "I'm so sorry I'm la-…" Trailing off, he raised an eyebrow at the scene before him.

Greg was wearing a pair of red swim trunks that had little black skulls all over them and was currently trying to pull Tony under the water. Trey and Tony were wearing matching black board shorts, Tony's had a red dragon on the side while Trey's had a blue dragon, and Trey was laughing as Tony's head came back above the surface and he spit out a mouthful of water.

Sasha was sitting on the edge of the pool talking with Julia, dressed in green suit with slices of watermelon on it. Julia, who'd just shook her head at something Sasha had said, was wearing a bright blue suit with flower petals dancing around it.

As usual Sarah and Amy were in colorful bikini's, Amy's was yellow and Sarah's silver and blue, but what surprised Jim the most was that Lisa was wearing one as well. She'd chosen a plain black one, and though it was fairly conservative, it was still a bikini.

The shock must have shown on his face because Lisa came over and smiled down at him. "Now I know you didn't think that was the only suit I ever wore. Even I like to play sometimes." She said, ruffling his hair gently.

"…but I thought today was practice." Jim finally managed to say.

"It is, but on the last practice before a meet I always allow a free day where we all just relax and play around together. You can also wear whatever you want. I find it helps everyone focus better if they're allowed a day off." Lisa said. "I guess I forgot to mention that though huh, sorry about that."

Shrugging, Jim tossed his towel next to several others on one of the nearby chairs and kicked off his flops. "Don't worry about it. While it would've been nice not to have to wear this thing, I've kind of gotten used to it these past few days." He replied with a smile.

"Glad to hear it, now get yourself into the pool and have some fun." Lisa said with a playful shove.

Jim didn't need to be told twice, within seconds he was diving into the water and joining in on a game of Marco Polo that had everyone laughing and joking around before the game even really had a chance to begin.

o o o o o

When practice was over, Lisa called everyone to the edge of the pool. "Okay, you've had your fun, now it's time for us to get serious." She said. "Last time we went up against the Dragons we put up a good fight, but they managed to beat us in the end because Jack broke his leg and had to back out. This time though I know we'll beat them. So go spend the rest of the day with your family or friends, but be back here and in bed no later than ten. I want you all well rested for the tournament tomorrow, got it?"

"Yes maam." The team replied in unison and Lisa nodded her head with a smile.

"That's what I like to hear. Now, off you go." Shooing them away with her hand, she stood up and pulled a towel around her waist. Looking up, she raised an eyebrow when she noticed Jim was still floating around in the pool. "Hey, what are you up to?" She asked curiously.

"I figured I'd get in a little practice before I headed back up to my room, if that's okay that is." Jim said, spinning around to face her.

"Suit yourself." Lisa said with a shrug. "Just don't wear yourself out before you have a chance to show us what you've really got."

"I won't."

Giving the boy a wave, Lisa turned on her heel and headed towards the showers to get changed.

Once Lisa was gone, Jim dunked his head back under the water to get his hair out of his face, pulled on his pair of goggles that were sitting by the side of the pool, and got into a starting position. Taking a deep breath he pushed himself off the side and sped off towards the other end of the pool.

Coming up for a breath, he pushed himself even harder and managed to make it to the opposite end a little faster than normal. Spinning around, he pushed off again and headed back to the starting point. He did that several more times before calling it quits and finally getting out of the pool.

Drying off his hair, Jim wrapped himself in the towel and headed back to his room to change. On his way there he figured he should probably head back to the flat and check on the mail and whatnot since he had the rest of the day free. He promised Gene he'd stay on top of all the bills, and he had, but he'd forgotten about the mail since they never really got many packages. Besides, he hadn't had his favorite coffee in a while, and since he was going that way anyway he may as well get himself a little treat.

With thoughts of a hot, tasty drink and warm muffin in his head, he made the trip to his room quickly. Changing took even less time since he wasn't exactly wearing much, and in less than fifteen minutes Jim found himself walking through the lobby doors and out into the warm afternoon sun in a pair of tan board shorts and a red t-shirt.

Checking his watch, he was pleased to note that it was only about one o'clock which left him with basically half the day to do whatever he wished. "Maybe I'll get some shopping done." He thought out loud, turning off the main street that lead to the resort and choosing to take some of the alleyways instead so he could avoid all the weekend shoppers downtown.

"I've been meaning to get some new parts for my computer so I can reconfigure Gilliam's programs faster, and Mel mentioned that we were almost out of cleaning supplies so I should probably grab those as well." He continued to mumble. "Oh, and Aisha's been complaining about Suzuka stealing _her_ shampoo so I'd better grab two more bottles of that while I'm out."

As he continued to make a mental list of everything that he'd need to pick up when he went out later, Jim turned a corner and stumbled into a kid that looked a few years older than himself. "Sorry about…" Trailing off, his eyes narrowed as he processed the scene before him.

There were two guys, including the one he'd just run into, hassling a little blonde girl. They both had short black hair and mean looks on their faces, most likely brothers as far as he could tell, and were dressed in some kind of maroon colored workout gear. Glancing back over at the girl, Jim was surprised to see that it was actually Sasha backed up against the alley wall.

He wasn't much of a hero, but there was no way Jim was going to let a friend of his be bullied so he narrowed his eyes and glared for all he was worth. "What do you think you're doing, picking on an innocent young girl like that?" He asked, trying to talk like Gene does when he's in his protective mood.

"What's it to you shrimp?" The one next to Sasha asked.

"Yeah, why don't you just run along and maybe we'll let you live." The other said as he cracked his knuckles threateningly.

Gulping, Jim began to take a step back but stopped himself before his foot moved more than an inch. Taking a deep breath, he began again. "I'm not leaving without her. So how about you let her go and we can forget this ever happened."

The two guys shared a laugh before turning to move in on Jim. "You sure talk tough for such a puny little thing. Maybe we should shut you up…permanently." The one on the left said.

When the one on the right raised his fist, Jim cringed and waited for the first blow. It never came. Instead the guy suddenly collapsed to the ground with a groan of pain. Blinking, Jim stared at the space he'd previously occupied and his eyes widened when he saw Sasha standing there with a very determined look on her face.

"Leave him alone." She said softly, but her tone was fierce and sounded a bit out of place coming from the small girl's mouth.

Looking down at his fallen sibling, the remaining teen raised an eyebrow and snorted. "And why should I do that. So you got lucky with Carl here, big deal, there's no way you'll be able to take me on."

Sasha dropped into a fighting stance, one which Jim vaguely recognized as some kind of Karate position, and narrowed her eyes. "You leave me no choice then."

With a laugh, the guy ran a hand over his hair and then shook his head. "Well, I don't usually fight girls, but for you I'll make an exception." Grinning cockily, he leapt forward and threw a fast punch with his right fist. What he hadn't counted on was Sasha blocking it easily and he found himself pushed into the wall hard. Feeling some blood form on his lip from where he'd bitten it, he spit it off before turning back around to face the young girl.

Jim watched as the two faced each other once again and was torn between stepping in, and likely getting injured, or letting Sasha deal with the punk. When her fist collided with the other guy's nose, the decision was made for him and he remained standing where he was.

"I think you broke my nose." The guy wheezed out as he took several steps back and nudged Carl, who'd just begun to stir, in the side.

"Five more minutes Joe." Carl mumbled from the ground.

Giving him another harsh kick, Joe was pleased to see Carl sit up quickly. Helping him to his feet, Joe glared at Sasha harshly. "Don't think this is over you little brat. Tomorrow I'll destroy you and the rest of your pathetic little team." And with that the two took off and disappeared out of the alley.

With a sigh, Sasha brushed off her light blue sundress and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before turning to face Jim. "Sorry about all that, I didn't mean to drag you into anything."

An apology was not what he'd been expecting and Jim stood there dumbfounded for several seconds. Finally he spoke up. "…um, what was that all about?"

"Oh that was just the Dragons way of trying to intimidate us before a match." Sasha said, waving her hand dismissively.

"But they can't do that!" Jim said astonished. "Aren't there rules against that kind of behavior?"

Sasha nodded. "Sure there are, but the Heifong Dragons have never been ones to follow the rules." When Jim looked ready to freak out, she shook her head. "It's not a big deal; usually they just corner one of us and make some lame threat. The only reason Joe got hurt today was because he took things too far by going after you. It's one thing to talk all big, but I can't condone violence in anyway."

Thoroughly confused, Jim ran both hands through his hair as he tried to wrap his head around things. It didn't work very well. "I still don't get it."

"It's team rivalry, that's all." Sasha said, taking him by the hand and leading him out onto the main street. "The Dragons threaten us because they think we're losers, and we pull pranks on them in retaliation. It's been that way for as long as I've been on the team. For the most part it's all in good fun, but occasionally someone gets a little out of hand and has to be dealt with. That's why they were so mad at me today; I bleached a load of their uniforms last night, so now some of them will have to compete tomorrow with spots on their suits."

Jim couldn't help but laugh as he imagined what they'd all look like.

When they reached the light, Sasha released his hand and smiled. "Thank you for trying to help me today. That was very brave of you."

"It was nothing." Jim said, rubbing the back of his head embarrassed.

"Whatever you say." Leaning up, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Well I've got to be getting home now. I've got Karate in an hour and I still have chores I need to finish." Waving, she took off down the street and vanished amongst the crowd.

With a brief shake of his head, Jim turned in the opposite direction and continued on his way. Four long lights and ten minutes later he unlocked the door to the flat and let himself inside. Closing the door with his foot, he made his way to the side door where packages are delivered and found two small boxes sitting there. One was for Aisha so he set that outside her room, and the other was for Melfina and labeled perishable.

Opening the box, he spotted several different types of meat and quickly moved them into the freezer so they'd last until she got back. From there he moved to the couch and pulled up the inventory and work logs for all the work that was being done on the Outlaw Star. The work had already been completed, and the ship was ready for space travel at any time, but Jim liked to read through all the notes the workers made so he'd have a heads up on anything that may need more work in the near future.

After that he ran through their financials, and nearly had a heart attack when he saw a charge made by Gene and Mel. There were so many zeros. He was about to call them up and scream at the incompetent captain, certain that it was his fault, when a deposit of the same amount appeared right above it. Breathing a sigh of relief, they were no longer bordering on bankrupt, he closed his computer, got up and walked to the door. It was time for some much needed coffee.

The trip to Fei Sei's was uneventful and soon he found himself sitting outside the small shop at the same table he'd shared with Lisa less than a week ago. Taking a sip of his coffee, Jim reached for the bag that held his muffin and pulled out the tasty treat. Leaning back in his chair, cup in one hand and muffin in the other, he absently watched people passing by as he ate leisurely.

There was a little girl crying because her balloon had floated away as her mother tried desperately to console her, an elderly couple that was out for an afternoon stroll, and a group of teen girls who'd obviously just finished a shopping spree if the dozens of stuffed bags were anything to go by.

Shaking his head, Jim finished his drink and shoved the cup into the empty bag before tossing it into a nearby trashcan. Now that his craving had been dealt with, it was time to get the rest of his list done. Pushing himself out of the chair, he began walking down the street towards the shopping mall.

o o o o o

Jim walked into the flat a little after six that evening with several heavy bags on his arms and dropped them next to the door. He'd managed to get everything on his list, including some of the fancy soap Melfina loved so much and a new set of teacups since they'd already managed to break most of the last set.

Kicking off his shoes, he rifled through the bags and began to put things away. The cleaning supplies went in the closet, the cups and utensils he'd found on clearance went on the kitchen counter, Mel's soap and the flower shampoo Aisha always claimed was 'hers', but in reality was for everyone to use, were put on the shelf in the bathroom, and his electronic equipment was tossed onto his bed.

Glancing at the clock, Jim wrinkled his nose when he realized he wouldn't have time to install everything tonight. Not if he planned on being back at the resort in time for the team dinner. He contemplated skipping it, but he'd already told Trey and Tony he'd be there and didn't want to go back on his word. With a longing look at his new toys, he left his room and made his way back to the front door.

Making sure the door was locked, he headed out onto the street and began the ten minute walk back to the resort. Which actually took closer to twenty minutes when he decided to stop and help an old man pull down his fruit stand, so it was nearing seven when Jim finally arrived.

He was cutting it close, but figured he'd have just enough time to make it to dinner if he took the stairs so he made a beeline for the door that led to them. Running up them as fast as he could, Jim slid out into the open outdoor dining area situated right out front of the restaurant just as the clock struck seven. Completely out of breath, yes, but on time none the less.

"You really need to exercise more." Trey said, popping out from behind a nearby bush and slapping Jim on the back playfully.

Tony put an arm around Jim's shoulder and smiled as well. "He has a point. It seems like you're always out of breath." Before Jim could reply, he continued. "But who cares about that right now. We've got a couple of hotties waiting for us inside so let's get going."

"Woohoo!" Trey called out excitedly. "Awesome food and good looking girls; could this night get any better!"

Rolling his eyes at their behavior, Jim found himself smiling anyway. Despite how the brothers acted, they were actually very loyal friends who cared a lot for those around them…you just had to look past all their obnoxiousness to find out. Ignoring the newly started argument about which waitress was cuter, Jim allowed himself to be drug off into the restaurant for what was certain to be a lively meal.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Outlaw Star or anything affiliated with said show.

* * *

><p>Jim was woken up the next morning by a continual banging on the door to his hotel room. Sitting up groggily, he'd agreed to a Street Fighter tournament that had gone until almost midnight, he rubbed his eyes and tried to get them to focus on the clock next to the bed. The pounding noises definitely weren't helping any.<p>

Finally the red numbers came into focus and Jim stared at the clock for all of five seconds before flying out of bed and changing as fast as he could. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he slipped on his flops and pulled open the door.

"It's about time man, I've been knocking for ten minutes." Greg said with a grin. He had a pair of green board shorts on over his swimsuit and a towel tossed over his shoulder. "Everyone else already went down; we'll be late if you don't get a move on."

"I know, I overslept, sorry." Jim apologized as he stepped out of the room.

"Less apology, more walking." Greg said as he grabbed Jim by the arm and began pulling him towards the elevator. "Lisa said if we're not there in ten minutes she'll have to make the team forfeit the match."

Jim stopped mid-step. "Forget the elevator, let's take the stairs." He said, heading in the opposite direction.

The pair raced down the hallway, narrowly avoiding a cart filled with towels and toilet paper, and hit the stairs running. They made it down the three flights in no time at all and within minutes found themselves pushing open the door to the pool area.

Greg followed the edge of the small pool to another door, one Jim had never seen before. Actually, now that he thought about it, Jim realized the whole room looked smaller. And then it hit him, a wall had been put up to separate the pool they used in training from the one the resort guests used.

Staring at the wall in shock, Jim ran into Greg's back when the other boy stopped to open the door. "Sorry." He said, still distracted by the enormous wall that had seemingly appeared overnight.

Seeing where his eyes were focused, Greg nodded his head in understanding. "Ah, yes, the divider wall. I forgot that you were new here and haven't seen it before." When Jim looked at him curiously, he continued. "This wall is lowered between the pools whenever we have tournaments. That way we're not distracted by kids playing around, and the guests still have access to a pool. It's a brilliant idea really; the guy who owns this place must be some kind of genius."

Jim was tempted to laugh at the idea of Fred being a 'genius', but before he could do anything Lisa appeared in front of them looking quite frantic.

"It's about time, now go join the rest of the team." Waving her hand in the direction she wanted them to go, Lisa walked over to the judges table to let them know the last of her kids had arrived.

Following after Greg as he led the way to the bench their team was using, Jim took a good look around. Not only was the dividing wall new, but they'd also brought in some bleachers on the far wall where family and friends were sitting. There were two large tables at the end of the pool were the judges and referee were located, and on the opposite side of where they were headed was another team, presumably the Dragons, dressed in maroon swimsuits that had gold dragons printed on them. The team looked extremely unfriendly, but Jim was pleased to note that three of the swimmers wore suits that had whitish splotches all over them thanks to Sasha's bleaching stunt.

Taking a seat next to Sasha, who smiled in greeting, Jim nodded his head at Trey and Tony when they waved. He noticed that Sarah and Amy were finally dressed in the team uniform, even if they did look annoyed to be doing so, and was about to turn his attention back to their opponents when Lisa came over.

"Alright you guys, here's how it's going to go." She said, holding up a paper with the schedule for the matches printed on it. "First up is Julia. You're going up against Mika in the high dive competition. Then Sasha's taking on Ray in a three lap, butterfly stroke, match. Trey and Tony, you guys are up against Carl and Steven in a ten lap, tag out, front crawl race. Tony you run the first five laps, tag Trey, and he'll take the last five."

Pausing for a breath, she continued. "Greg, you've got the next round against Markee, a five lap backstroke race, and you know how tricky he can be so watch out. And last we have our secret weapon Jim. The Dragons haven't swam against you before so that'll give us a bit of an edge, but you'll be going up against their best member Joe so make sure you give it your all. It'll be a ten lap freestyle match, so the stroke is up to you, but since it's also a timed race against the clock you'll need to choose carefully. This year they've changed it up a little though, and each lap they'll shave a few seconds from the clock. When the buzzer sounds you'd better be ahead of him or you're screwed."

"Piece of cake right." Trey said, giving Jim a nudge on the arm and grinning widely.

Seeing Jim's face pale, Julia gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, you'll do fine." She said encouragingly.

Nodding in thanks, Jim sat back as the tournament announcer's voice came out over the sound system.

"The Heifong Teen Division Swim Tournament will now commence." The male voice said. "Today's round will be between the reigning champions the Heifong Dragons, and the Summer Moon Typhoons." As he announced the teams, the members all stood up and faced the crowd in the bleachers that were cheering their favorites on. Once they'd sat back down and things had quieted, he continued. "Our judges this year are from the Blue Heaven Swim League. Please give a warm welcome to Jane Kingsly and Paul Jones."

There was the obligatory clapping from the crowd and teams, as well as several muttered comments from the Dragons which thankfully went unheard. "Our referee for the matches today is Tom Parks." The announcer continued. "And now, the first round of the teen division ranking tournament shall commence. Julia and Mika, to the diving boards please."

Julia jumped up from her seat with a determined look on her face as she headed to the far end of the pool. Ignoring her opponent, a tall blonde girl that looked more like a model than a swimmer, as she made snide remarks in-between posing for photos from boys in the bleachers, Julia focused her mind on the task at hand. She'd been training on the high board for months and was certain she'd pull her dive off flawlessly.

As they reached the ladder to the diving boards, the ref flipped a coin and it was decided that Julia would go first. Taking a deep breath, she climbed up the ladder, heading for the very top. The higher she got, the faster her heart began to beat and soon it felt as though it would burst out of her chest. Her breathing became shorter and she had to stop a few rungs from the top to calm herself down.

"You can do it!" Jim called out from below when he saw her pause on the ladder. "Show them what you've got!"

"Yeah, you go girl!" Trey and Tony added together.

Glancing over at her teammates, Julia smiled and then pulled herself up the rest of the way. Her nervousness now completely gone, she stepped out onto the diving board, took three calming breaths just like Lisa had taught her, and then with a short run she jumped into the air and began her twenty-five foot freefall to the water below. Tucking her knees to her chest, Julia spun two times in mid-air before straightening herself out and slipping into the water with barely a splash.

When she brought her head above the surface she was met with loud cheers and whistles from all around and a bright smile lit up her face as she pulled herself out of the water. Waving to her parents, they'd come home to see her swim, she walked back over to her seat as the announcer's voice came back over the speakers.

"And what do our judges say?" The voice asked as the couple at the table both held up papers with large numbers written on them. "Julia receives an amazing combined score of nineteen folks, that's going to be very tough to beat. Can the Dragons swimmer Mika pull off a perfect dive? Well let's find out."

Jim watched as the black haired girl made her way to the diving boards, waving at the crowd on her way. Apparently Mika had been one of the unlucky ones; her one-piece suit had over a dozen splotches all over it. Covering a snicker behind his hand, though he needn't have bothered because Trey, Tony and Greg all began to laugh out loud, Jim was impressed with how Mika maintained her composure.

When she reached the ladder, Mika turned to glare at the Typhoons and slid a hand across her throat menacingly before climbing up to the top. Everyone watched in silence as she straightened up, took a deep breath, and then proceeded to jump.

Jim had thought Julia did a great job, but Mika was amazing. She started with a back flip that lead into three complete spins and a perfect entrance into the water. There was no doubt in his mind that she'd just taken the match, and he was right. Not five seconds later the announcer spoke up saying the exact same thing.

"What a spectacular dive by Mika! She's definitely living up to her name as the High Dive Queen. Judges, do you agree?" He asked over the speaker and the two judges held up their signs, each sporting a large ten. "They do! Mika has just won the round with a perfect score!"

Climbing out of the pool, Mika smirked in the Typhoons direction and then headed back to take her seat with her team who congratulated her with pats on the back and high-fives.

When things quieted down, the announcer continued. "And now, on to the next match. This will be a three lap, butterfly stroke race. The first swimmer to complete all three laps wins. Our swimmers for this round are Sasha from the Typhoons, and Ray from the Dragons. Swimmers, to the pool if you please."

Sasha stood up and walked over to the edge of the pool to stand next to her opponent. She looked so tiny compared to the nearly six foot tall, spiky blonde haired teen. Refusing to look at Ray, who was standing smugly next to her despite the fact that his regulation speedo looked really out of place on his huge form, Sasha got into position and waited for the whistle to be blown.

Jim looked at the pair and felt sorry for Sasha. Sure she was a great swimmer, but there was no way she'd be able to beat a giant in a race. That Ray guy would pull five feet ahead with each stroke. Frowning, he glanced at his teammates and was surprised to see them holding back smiles. It was almost as if they knew something he didn't.

The referee put the whistle to his lips and gave a sharp sound announcing the start of the race. The two were in the water in moments. Immediately Ray took a commanding lead, pulling out in front by a quarter of a lap and earning loud cheers from several groups in the crowd.

Sasha on the other hand appeared to be taking her time, doing each stroke leisurely and appearing as if she hadn't a care in the world. Worried, Jim leaned forward on the bench and was about to call out to her when Julia placed a hand on his arm.

"Just watch." She said softly, her eyes still trained on the pair in the water. "It always takes Sasha a lap or so to get started, but then there's no stopping her."

Greg nodded from his seat. "Julia's right. I've never seen someone come from behind like Sasha does, but trust us, she'll blow that guy right out of the water."

Suddenly, after beginning her second lap, Sasha began to fly through the water. She was going so fast Jim couldn't believe his eyes. In the time it took Ray to finish half a lap and start on his final one, Sasha had completed her second full lap and had caught up with him. Ray didn't stand a chance, one second he was a good lap and a half in the lead, and the next, Sasha had pulled out in front and was fast approaching the finish.

With a growl of frustration, it shouldn't have been possible for a scrawny little girl to move that fast, Ray pushed himself as hard as he could. In the end it didn't matter. Sasha hit the edge of the pool nearly half a lap before Ray and the referee blew his whistle once more to signal the match was over.

"What an amazing turn of events!" The announcer called out from the sidelines. "The young swimmer Sasha came from behind and pulled off a stunning victory over the Dragons! This match is going to be talked about for years to come my friends!"

Ray climbed out of the water and headed straight for Sasha who'd begun walking towards her seat with an evil look on his face. Reaching out, he was inches from grabbing onto her arm when a hand clenched his elbow painfully. "I wouldn't do anything stupid if I were you." Tony said, his face serious for once as he tightened his grip enough to make Ray wince.

Trey stood up and blocked Ray's path so he couldn't move forward. "Yeah, why don't you go back to your seat before something happens that you'll regret."

Narrowing his eyes, Ray looked between the brothers and finally decided to back off when Greg pushed himself up as well. "Whatever." Throwing off the hand on his arm he turned to leave and then stopped. "Don't think this is over, we'll get our revenge." He said without looking back.

As Ray walked away, Jim breathed a sigh of relief, thankful the ordeal was over with. The rest of the team, however, simply sat back down as if that kind of thing was no big deal. Which considering how many times they'd dealt with the Dragons was probably true.

Either oblivious to the happenings between the two teams, or simply choosing to ignore it, the announcer proceeded with the tournament. "Okay folks, the score is now tied with one win for each team as we move on to the next match. This round we have a ten lap, tag team, front crawl race. The Typhoons swimmers are the Crain brothers, Trey and Tony, and the Dragons swimmers are Carl and Steven. Tony and Carl will swim the first five laps, tag their partners, and then Trey and Steven will do the last five. To the pool swimmers."

Trey and Tony pushed themselves up off their seats and made their way to the edge of the pool. Their opponents, Carl, the teen with short black hair that Jim had met earlier, and Steven, a suave looking kid with chin length red hair, were already standing there with their arms crossed and mean looks on their faces. The brothers, however, failed to notice the harsh looks because they were entirely focused on Carl's spotted attire.

Truthfully, the speedo hadn't been bleached all that bad, turning a few shades lighter as opposed to the white on Mika's suit, but the position of the spots made it really stand out. No matter how they looked at it, Tony and Trey always ended up seeing a large smiley face on the front of Carl's suit. Which was precisely why they'd stopped walking before reaching their destination; they were laughing too hard to continue.

Carl narrowed his eyes and began to step forward when Steven stopped him. "Let them have their laughs." He said when Carl remained where he was. "In the end we will be victorious, just like last time."

That comment snapped the Crain brothers out of their laughter instantly and their faces became serious. Finishing the short walk to the starting line, they took their positions. "Keep dreaming slowpoke." Trey said with a smirk as he stood behind Tony. "You guys are about to be creamed."

Before they could respond, the referee came up between the two groups. "Alright, first swimmers to the edge." He said, and Tony and Carl stepped up to their respective lanes. "When you've completed your fifth lap, climb out of the pool and tag your partner. Are you ready?" Seeing them nod, he blew his whistle and the race began.

Carl was in the water first, followed seconds later by Tony. They both raced through the water, staying close to each other for the first three laps. On the start of the fourth lap Tony pulled ahead by a body length and he kept that gap up until the tag out.

Pulling himself out of the pool, Tony slapped Trey's hand just as Carl crawled out of the water and switched with Steven. Trey managed to get himself a larger lead, nearly three body lengths, by the time Steven slipped into the water.

Unfortunately for Trey, Steven was quite a bit faster than Carl and he soon found himself overtaken. He was struggling to stay a few feet behind, but it seemed like no matter what he did, Steven was pulling further ahead with each stroke.

As they both turned into their final lap, Trey gave it his all, but was still a few feet behind Steven with no chance of gaining the lost ground since his body had already been pushed to the limit. He was about to give up when his brother's voice shouted above the crowd.

"Move it Trey or I'll destroy your favorite action figures!"

Trey's eye narrowed and a sudden burst of adrenaline had him shooting past Steven just in the nick of time. Ignoring the crowd, who'd just gone wild over his sudden and unexpected come from behind victory, Trey jumped out of the pool and advanced on his brother. "How dare you threaten my precious action figures!" He growled angrily.

Grinning, Tony gave Trey a congratulatory slap on the back. "Congrats bro, we won."

Pausing, Trey blinked before looking around and waving at the cheering crowd. "Of course we did." He said cockily. "No way would we lose to the likes of them."

Tony rolled his eyes at his brother's behavior as the referee signaled the end of the race and the announcer's voice came over the speakers once more.

"In an amazing comeback, the Typhoons have managed to take another victory here today! This brings the total to Dragons 1, Typhoons 2." The voice said and half the crowd roared in approval.

Giving a mock salute to their opponents, Trey threw his arm around his brother and they walked back over to join their team. He'd only taken a few steps when he heard a growl coming from behind him and grinned. Sure, they'd want revenge, but the Dragons wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything during a tournament, not with the judges and ref watching, so he'd worry about that later.

"Way to go you guys, that was awesome." Jim said as the pair took their seats on the bench.

"Yeah, not bad at all." Greg added, giving Trey a high-five.

"That was so cool!" Sarah squealed, pulling Tony into a tight hug as Amy did that same with Trey.

Lisa rolled her eyes at her fellow instructors before shooing them away with her hand. "Back off you two, we still have a meet to finish. You can smother the boys later."

"Meany." Amy pouted, but the two of them backed off anyway.

Suddenly the announcer spoke again and everyone quieted down to listen. "The next round is a five lap, backstroke race, between Greg from the Typhoons and Markee from the Dragons. If the swimmers would please make their way to the starting point we'll get this race started."

"Go get 'em." Tony said as Greg stood up and walked to the end of the pool.

"Good luck." Julia and Jim called out at the same time, receiving a wave in response from their teammate.

Greg joined Markee by the referee and stretched his arms above his head to loosen them up. Turning his gaze to his opponent, he nodded politely, snorting when all he got in return was a glare. Markee was shorter than him, by a good five inches, and looked more like a bookworm than a swimmer, if you overlooked the fact that he was bald and had several small scars on his face. He was a perfect example of how looks can be deceiving.

Getting into position when the referee pulled out his whistle, Greg took several deep breaths and prepared for what was surely going to be one very intense race.

The sound of the whistle rang out through the room and both swimmers dove into the pool, coming up on their backs, and pulling themselves through the water at an impressive speed. Arm over arm they raced, neither gaining even the slightest lead, and it stayed that way through the first four laps. Finally, by the last lap, Greg managed to pull ahead by a little over a foot. He maintained his lead all the way to the end and pulled himself out of the water proudly, ready to accept his victory.

"And Markee wins!" The announcer said loudly, and Greg looked over at the judges in shock.

As it turned out, Markee had actually beaten him by little more than half an arm's length. How the other teen had managed to pull ahead without him noticing, Greg had no idea, but in the end it didn't matter. He'd still lost the match.

"Better luck next time." Markee said with a smirk as he headed back over to his team.

With his head hanging, Greg walked over and took his seat next to Tony. "Sorry guys, I really thought I had him that time." He mumbled apologetically.

"Eh, it's no big deal." Trey said, Tony nodding his head in agreement.

"He's right. Everyone knows that Markee plays dirty, so don't let it get to you." Lisa told him with a smile. "Though his trick of not straightening his arms all the way was rather creative. Not even I could tell that he was actually in the lead." Shaking her head, she looked over at Jim. "Well kiddo, it looks like you're our last hope at winning this thing so go out there and show them what you've got."

"No pressure." Trey said with a grin, earning him a slap to the back of the head from his brother.

Glaring at Trey sharply, Tony rolled his eyes. "Way to go moron, now he's really going to get stressed out."

Sasha pat Jim's hand gently and gave him a soft smile. "You'll do fine, don't worry."

"With the score tied at two wins each, the outcome of this tournament all comes down to this last match." The announcer said. "This will be a ten lap freestyle race against the clock. Each lap the countdown timer will get shorter and shorter until finally one of you wins, or is eliminated. On the Dragons team we have Joe, and on the Typhoons, Jim. Swimmers, make your way to your starting positions."

Taking a deep breath, Jim stood up and slowly began walking towards the referee. The crowd was loud, cheering for their favorite team, but Jim blocked the noise out as he focused on the task at hand. Definitely not one of his brightest ideas.

By the time he reached his destination, Jim was petrified of messing up. All his thinking did was bring up all the ways he could screw this up and the thought of losing and letting his teammates down was overwhelming. He was about to forfeit and run away, when his opponent spoke up.

"After I crush you I'm going to make that little blonde friend of yours pay for bruising my nose." Joe said with a sneer, drawing Jim's attention to the swollen skin that had turned an interesting shade of purple since the last time he'd seen the dark haired kid.

Eye's narrowing when he processed what was said, Jim's fear vanished and was instead replaced with a sense of calm. "I'll make sure that'll never happen." He said firmly, before looking down at Joe's bleached suit and adding with a smirk. "By the way, nice suit."

Joe didn't have a chance to respond because the referee, seeing that the two swimmers were in their places, placed the whistle at his lips. "Are you ready?" He asked. When they nodded, he gave a quick blow and signaled the start of the race.

The moment the whistle was blown, Jim launched himself into the pool, intent on gaining a lead from the start. However, things didn't quite work out the way he planned since Joe was a good foot-and-a-half taller than Jim and had pulled ahead before they'd even made it into the water. Mentally complaining about his lack of height, Jim propelled himself down the lane determinedly.

They both made it through the first lap with time to spare, and the clock reset itself as they continued on to the second lap.

Three more laps passed in the blink of an eye and Jim was starting to get frustrated by his lack of progress. Not only had he not managed to shorten the gap between himself and his opponent, but on his last lap he'd only beaten the clock by a couple of seconds. If things continued this way he wouldn't stand a chance.

On the sixth lap Jim gained a little ground and cleared the lap with five seconds to spare. Still too close for comfort, but he wasn't out yet. Kicking his feet as hard as he could, Jim pulled himself through the water at an amazing pace.

He continued to overtake Joe as they moved through the next three laps and by the time he turned into the last one, he found himself nearly neck and neck with his opponent.

Just then the clock sounded its five second warning and Jim knew he wasn't going to make it to the finish. Thankfully though, neither would Joe. That meant that whoever was in the lead when the buzzer went off would be the winner, and Jim gave everything he had to make sure it would be him.

The last few seconds seemed to drag on forever, but finally the buzzer sounded and both swimmers came to a stop to await the announcement of the winner.

"What a close race!" The announcer said excitedly. "Even the judges are having a hard time figuring out who the winner is. They've brought in the video and are replaying it as we speak. In a few moments we'll find out just who will move on to the next round in the Heifong Teen Division Swim Tournament."

Jim swam the rest of the way to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out when he saw Joe do the same. They both made their way back to their respective teams and waited on bated breath for the outcome to be announced.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the announcer's voice filled the room once more. "After much deliberation, the judges have come to a unanimous decision. The winner of the race, by mere inches, is…" Pausing for effect, he continued. "…Jim from the Typhoons! Congratulations Typhoons, you're moving on to the next round of the tournament!"

Joyous shouts and cheers rang out as the members of the winning team jumped up and began congratulating one another. Even people in the audience began making their way down to the pool to join in on the celebration.

"I knew you could do it." Trey said, throwing his arm around Jim with a huge grin on his face. "My bet on the Dragons was just because I felt bad for them."

Smacking his brother's arm, he just had to mention the betting, Tony gave Jim a slap on the back. "Great job man, that was an impressive win."

"That was awesome!" Greg said as he joined them. "You should've seen the look on the Dragons faces when they said you won. They were furious. Joe's eyes were so wide in shock I thought they were going to pop out of his head." He finished with a laugh.

Sasha and Julia came over and each gave Jim a hug. "You did good." Julia said, and Sasha nodded her head in agreement.

Suddenly Jim was pulled away from the girls and into the crushing arms of Sarah and Amy. "Such an amazing little swimmer you are." Sarah said as she squeezed him even tighter.

"He is isn't he, and it's all thanks to our expert teaching skills." Amy added with a smile.

Shaking her head, Lisa pried her fellow instructors off of Jim. "Come on, give the kid some space." She said before facing Jim. "Good job." Placing a hand on his shoulder, she gave it a gentle squeeze and then looked around at the rest of her team. "You all did an excellent job today, I'm very proud of you guys. Now let's go get our medals!"

"Yeah!" They all cheered, following after Lisa as she made her way towards the judges table.

o o o o o

After receiving their medals, the Typhoons were forced to sit through many photographs for the local news crews as well as their family and friends. From there they all headed to a nearby pizza parlor for lunch, a prize for winning the tournament, and then it was time for them to go their separate ways.

"Okay guys, I'll see you all on Wednesday for our next practice." Lisa said as everyone prepared to head home. "And once again I just want to say what an amazing job you all did. I expect to see you do even better when we go up against the Panthers next Sunday."

"Well I can't make any promises." Trey said cheekily, earning himself a slap to the head from his mother and a punch to the arm from his brother that made everyone laugh. "You guys are so mean to me." He said with a fake pout.

Julia waved. "See you later everybody." She said as her family headed to the door as well.

Greg left with his parents a few moments later, Sasha and Amy following shortly after. Soon the only ones left were Lisa and Jim. Catching him before he could leave, Lisa spoke up. "So how about it, do you feel like sticking around for awhile?" She asked curiously.

Pausing, Jim cocked his head in thought. "You know, I think I just might. I've really missed all this and I don't think I'm ready to give it up again yet. I can't guarantee I'll be around for every practice and tournament, but if the spot's still available I'd love to have it."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Lisa said with a smile. "I already had them add your name to the roster list as a permanent member of the team." Ruffling his hair, she continued. "Now get your butt home and get some rest, you've earned it."

Batting her hand away, Jim grinned. "Will do coach. I'll see you on Wednesday." Waving, he turned towards the door and began his trip home. He had to make a quick stop off at his room to grab his things, there was no use staying there if there wasn't going to be any practice for a few days, and he needed to catch up on work anyway so he figured he may as well head home, but it didn't take long and he soon found himself standing outside the flat he shared with the rest of the crew of the Outlaw Star.

Reaching for his key, he was startled when the door was pulled open and he came face to chest with Gene. "Hey Gene." Jim said slowly. "I didn't know you were going to be back so soon."

Looking down, Gene shrugged. "Neither did I, but there were some malfunctions on the ship or something and they sent everyone home a little early. I'm just heading out now to grab some supplies for dinner, you want anything?" He asked.

"No thanks." Jim said, shaking his head.

"Okay then. Well, Mel's in the kitchen. Do me a favor and tell her I'll be back soon." Gene said before taking off down the street.

Closing his mouth, he'd intended to respond but Gene had disappeared too fast, Jim shook his head as he walked inside. Turning towards the kitchen, he spotted Melfina looking through the packages in the freezer. "Hey Mel, Gene said he'll be back soon."

Jumping in surprise, Mel whipped around, calming when she spotted Jim standing in the doorway. "Jim, it's good to see you."

"Good to see you too." Jim replied.

Moving her focus back to the freezer, Melfina called out over her shoulder. "So, did you do anything interesting while we were gone?"

Thinking about the medal that was currently resting in his pocket, Jim couldn't help but smile. "Oh you know, just the usual." He'd thought about telling her everything, but changed his mind at the last second. He wanted it to remain his little private getaway, something that was all his…that and he really didn't want Gene to find out that he had a membership to an exclusive resort that's filled with lots of bikini clad women.


End file.
